Zawahiri killed in over-the-horizon operation: Pentagon

KABUL (Pajhwok): Al-Qaeda Leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in an over-the-horizon operation in downtown Kabul, where he was residing as a guest of the Taliban, the US Department of Defense said on Wednesday.

The house was struck by two Hellfire missiles in a precision, counterterrorism operation at 6:18 am (Kabul time) on Sunday.

Zawahiri was the only casualty. "We are confident through our intelligence sources and methods — including multiple streams of intelligence — that we killed Zawahiri and no other individuals," a senior administration official said.

"His death deals a significant blow to Al-Qaeda and will degrade the group's ability to operate, including against the US homeland," the official believed.

Zawahiri led the terror group following the death of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011 in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Abbottabad.

Zawahiri had served as Osama bin Laden's deputy and helped plan terror attacks on the United States and Americans overseas, including the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 that killed 17 sailors and wounded many others and the attacks on U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in August 1998 that killed 224 people and wounded more than 4,500.

"He carved a trail of murder and violence against American citizens, American service members, American diplomats and American interests," Biden said in a statement.

Since bin Laden's death, Zawahiri coordinated al-Qaida's branches around the world — including setting priorities and providing operational guidance that called for and inspired attacks against U.S. targets, Biden said.

"Now, justice has been delivered, and this terrorist leader is no more," the president said. "People around the world no longer need to fear the vicious and determined killer. The United States continues to demonstrate our resolve and our capacity to defend the American people against those who seek to do us harm."

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